distributor
Americannoun
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a person or thing that distributes.
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Commerce.
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a person, firm, etc., engaged in the general distribution or marketing of some article or class of goods.
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a wholesaler who has exclusive rights to market, within a given territory, the goods of a manufacturer or company.
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Automotive, Machinery. a device in a multicylinder engine that distributes the igniting voltage to the spark plugs in a definite sequence.
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Printing.
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(in a press) one of the rollers for spreading ink on the table, rolling it to a proper consistency, and transferring it to rollers that ink the form or plate.
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Also called distributor bar. (in a Linotype) a bar with keylike cuts along its length, for sorting matrices into their proper magazines after type has been cast.
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noun
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a person or thing that distributes
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a wholesaler or middleman engaged in the distribution of a category of goods, esp to retailers in a specific area
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the device in a petrol engine that distributes the high-tension voltage to the sparking plugs in the sequence of the firing order
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of distributor
From the Late Latin word distribūtor, dating back to 1520–30. See distribute, -tor
Explanation
It's great that you've got something amazing to sell, but without a distributor you're not going to be able to get it to the people who want to buy it. To distribute it, you need a distributor. A dealer at a card table is as much a distributor as is the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Both of them share the job of getting their product into the hands of the folks who want it. Whether you're handing out a dozen flyers on the street or shipping a million books to shoppers nationwide, you're a distributor. In the world of electrical engineering, a distributor is a device that sends an electrical current from one contact to another. It distributes the electricity, just like that dealer dealing cards.
Vocabulary lists containing distributor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The institutional share classes may also be available directly through certain brokerage platforms, and account minimums may vary depending on the relationships between the fund manager or distributor and the advisory or brokerage firm.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Iberdrola reached a deal to buy an 80% stake in Finnish electricity distributor Caruna Group for 2.01 billion euros.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The six companies, all Italian, were fashion company Harmont & Blaine, supermarket chains Il Gigante, MD, Oasi and Pro7 and bottled gas distributor Butan Gas.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
At present, if one studio demands unfair prices, a distributor can walk away and deal with the rival.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Misfortune, oh, say, like opening up a box that you think contains forty-eight water bottles, only to find that it’s full of ÁguaViva independent multi-tiered distributor brochures instead.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Not only would theaters and pay-TV distributors be harmed, but so would “audiences on every sofa and movie theater in the U.S.,”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Prosecutors representing the states said merging two major studios would cause “substantial harm on movie theatres, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide”.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
When dealing with higher costs, fruit and vegetable farmers usually have to pass those increases along to their buyers and distributors, and those increases will show up in grocery stores almost right away, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
That all-important cold chain exacts a cost from growers and distributors as well.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
He brought together representatives from multinational drug companies, independent middlemen and distributors, nonprofit organizations—almost anyone who might have an impact on drug pricing.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
